Ode to a Honda

I have been taking my Honda cars to Hoshi Motors for nearly thirty years.  My mechanic has become a dear friend; I have her birthday on my yearly calendar.  February 2009 I was having trouble with my car’s heater and I had them look it over during a routine oil change.  As I stood at the counter they gently explained what a head gasket was, and that Idgey’s was going bad.   I tried to keep up a pleasant banter as I questioned them about what to expect and what did this really mean?  The prognosis was grim, “It could last for two days or another two weeks, but it is going to fail you one day soon. You need to start thinking about a new car.”  I started crying on the road home and I cried for days.

My 1^st Honda was a little light blue station wagon, I have no idea what the vintage was, but it was used when we bought it before my son was born.  Her name was Old Blue.  My 2^nd  Honda was the large square wagon with dark tinted windows; it was blue as well.  It was my office on wheels, had tons of interior space, plus it had high clearance for barreling through the snow.  I always thought of that car as a juvenile delinquent but I loved it.  It was November of 1992 and my family was getting ready to drive to Missouri for Thanksgiving. I took my car to Grease Monkey for a quick oil change the day before we left.  By the time we got to Springfield, Mo the engine was wrecked.  I didn’t know how bad the damage was but I decided to take him to Hoshi as soon as I got home.  We had to add a lot of oil on that return trip.  We found out the engine was blown, but he carried us all the way back to Colorado and delivered us to our doorstep.  I still think of him has Brave Heart. 

I bought Idgey on December 5^th, 1992.  It was the first car I had ever purchased new, 36 miles on the odometer, and Bob talked the dealers into free air conditioning.  She is an opalescent light green, the color of the movie, Fried Green Tomatoes ~ one of my favorite books that they made into an excellent movie.  Idgey was one of the main characters so naming my sporty new car was easy.

To me an automobile is NOT an inanimate object.  Every component of my car is made of metals and plastics ~ which are probably compounds of mixed cellular structures.  She drinks fluids and, on rare occasions, may emit a little gaseous fume.  Even if my theory is weak on facts, my conclusion is the same.  She is my friend; she has a heart and feelings.  She has been there for me in the good times and the bad, in sickness and in health.  She has listened as I sing along to the radio, witnessed my tears and absorbed my anger.  I made up a song for her that I sing every once in awhile.  Every year on my birthday we pretend that it is her birthday as well and we go the car wash and get “the works” inside and out;  I pay extra for a squirt of “new car smell”. 

I can barely imagine life without Idgey.  She takes care of me.  Many years ago, coming across Kansas I-70 on a return trip from my parent’s house, I suddenly felt the power disappear.  In front of me was an off ramp.  Idgey coasted up the ramp, we made a left hand turn over the interstate and finally lost all momentum in front of a pay telephone at a convenience store.  She took care of me ~ there is no other way to describe it.  I called Hoshi, they checked my file and told me what had probably happened and how much it would cost to get it fixed.  When I got back home, I called my insurance agent to ask if I could be reimbursed for the tow truck.  “You didn’t need to pay for that, it is included in your insurance!” he exclaimed.  “It is?” I asked incredulously.  “Nothing ever goes wrong with my car so I didn’t remember that.” 

I have often joked about driving her for 400,000 miles, Hondas have been known to do that and we are well past 300,000 miles now!   Even I know that she is probably no longer safe for long highway trips, but I must tell you that she and I made four trips across Kansas a few years ago as my Fathers health began to fail.  I had other things on mind, to be sure, but I never thought for a second that she wouldn’t get me there and back again. And she did - four times in six months.

It has been more than two years since they told me her time was near.  I keep a very good record of all the antifreeze I add and I religiously watch the heat gauge, it will be one of my first warning signs.  I am still getting over 400 miles per tank of gas and she drives up Boulder Canyon like a trooper.  She is my friend, my ally, my office on wheels.  When her time is really up, I have a phone number of a charity that I can donate her body to, and she will continue to serve as a learning tool for an aspiring young mechanic.  I know that is what she wants.   But for now, I will continue to sing her song for as long as she will listen. 

((written July 6,  2008; revised April 20, 2011 -  blogged today to prepare to receive my new CRV)